the gallery

visual art

single works of art

Centre for Political Beauty: First European fall of the wall (Erster Europäischer Mauerfall), art project, 2014

14 white crosses, which commemorate those who died trying to cross the
Berlin wall in the centre of Berlin, where brought to the outer European
borders in Melilla by a group of artists. The artists state the the victims of
the Berlin wall "fled in an act of spontaneous solidarity" to join those
who die on their way to Europe, their "future brothers and sisters". Link to artist's website (German)

Ai Wei Wei: Dumbass,
music video, 2013

The track is Ai
Weiwei’s reflection on the
struggle of
protecting human rights and the
freedom of expression
in China. His frequent
run-ins with the
Chinese government eventually
led to his 81-day
secret detention between April
and June 2011.

Sheenkai Alam Stanikzai is an Afghan female
artist who works with photography, video and installation art to address
political and gender issues. She was awarded
the third Freedom to Create Price in 2009 and her work was shown in the "Freedom to Create Prize"
exhibition in New York City in 2010.

The Kumjing Storytellers:
Paper machée dolls, 2009

A group of Burmese refugee women, who live in refugee camps at the border
between Thailand and Burma, creates giant paper mache dolls who travel across
Thailand and the world to tell their stories and raise awareness of their
situation. They were awarded the second Freedom to Create Price in 2009 and their
work was shown in the "Freedom to Create Prize" exhibition in New York City in 2010.

Morten Traavik: Miss Landmine Cambodia, photographs,2009After organizing it in Angola in 2008, in 2009 Morten Traavik organized a second beauty contest for victims of landmines in Cambodia challenging beauty concepts and ideas of the female body.

Mimmo Palladino - The Door of Europe, 2008

The Door of Europe is a monument erected in Lampedusa to commemorate those who lost their lives in crossing the maritime border to European waters and the risks that they took in the hope of a better life.

Shirin Neshat: Rapture, video installation, 1999

Neshat (born 1957) is
an Iranean visual artist
who lives in New
York. Her work refers to the
social, cultural and
religious codes of Muslim
societies and the
complexity of certain
oppositions, such as
man and woman. Rapture” is a
two-channel video projection
divided down gender
lines. The male
protagonists of the
narrative are projected on the left wall of the
gallery, the women on the
right.

Barbara Paterson: "Women are
persons!", bronze
statues, 1999

The 'Women are persons!'
monument or 'Famous five' monument located in Calgary, Canada, was created by
Barbara Paterson. The bronce statues honours Emily Murphy, Irene
Parlby, Louise McKinney, Henrietta Muir Edwards and Nellie Mcclung. The five women successfully launched a legal challenge in 1928 to
legally recognize Canadian women as "persons", who can be elected for
the Senate.

Alfredo Jaar visited Rwanda
months after the genocide in 1994. 'The Eyes of Gutete Emerita' deals with the
woman's suffering in Rwandan genocide. Gutete Emerita witnessed the murder of
her husband and sons. The photography is part of Jaar's series named 'Rwandan
Projects'.

The monumental
outdoor sculpture in Nuremberg, Germany is part of
Nuremberg's efforts to
shake off its
Nazi-era reputation as the "City of
the Party
Rallies" and reinvent itself as a "City
of Peace and Human
Rights". The monument is
intended as both a
repudiation of past crimes
and a permanent
reminder that human rights are still regularly
violated.

The painting is seen
as a criticism of American intervention in the
Korean War. It depicts the 1950 Sinchon
Massacre, an act of mass killing
carried out by North
Koreans, South Koreans,
and American forces
in the town of Sinchon,
North Korea.

Pablo Picasso: Guernica, 1937 (Museo Nacional Reina Sofía,
Madrid)
Picasso's celebrated
depiction of the Spanish Civil
War here became an
international symbol for
the hostilities of
war and a unifying symbol for
all those who opposed
it.

Otto Dix: The War (Stormtroops
Advancing Under Gas), series of 50 etchings, 1924

Dix was profoundly
affected by the sights of
the war, and would
later describe a recurring
nightmare in which he
crawled through
destroyed houses. He
represented his traumatic
experiences in many
subsequent works, including a portfolio
of fifty etchings called Der Krieg, published in 1924.

Jakob Riies: How the others live (Bandits'
Roost), photograph, 1890

Riis mostly
attributed the plight of the poor to environmental
conditions, but he also divided
the poor into two
categories: deserving of
assistance (mostly
women and children) and
undeserving (mostly
the unemployed and
intractably
criminal). He wrote with prejudice
about Jews, Italians,
and Irish, and he stopped short of calling for
government intervention. Still, the catalyst
of his work was a genuine
sympathy for his
subjects, and his work
shocked many New
Yorkers.

Francisco de Goya:
The Third of May, oil on
canvas,1808/1814
(Museo del Prado,
Madrid)

In the work, Goya
sought to commemorate
Spanish resistance to
Napoleon`s armies during
the occupation of
1808 in the Penisular War.
The painting's
content, presentation, and emotional force
secure its status as a
groundbreaking,
archetypal image of the
horrors of war.

Los desastres de la
guerra is a set of 82 aquatint
prints created in the
1810s, and published in
1863, 35 years after
Goyas death.

Jaques Callot: Miseries of War (The Hanging), two series of prints, 1630s

In the work, Goya
sought to commemorate
Spanish resistance to
Napoleon`s armies during
the occupation of
1808 in the Penisular War.
The painting's
content, presentation, and emotional force
secure its status as a
groundbreaking,
archetypal image of the horrors of war.